Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.

Private School Acceptance Letters…a reflection on YOU as a parent.

By Michele Costanza…bringing you a humorous view on consumer topics in an all-too-serious world

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If you’ve felt the stressful energy crackling last week, or seen the tension strung taut across the faces of parents all over Seattle, then you aren’t alone. Thursday, March 15, was L-day for private elementary, middle and high schools in Seattle, meaning the day the LETTERS for acceptances were being mailed. After months of school tours, tedious applications, interviews, and waiting……the date had arrived.

Letters mailed on Thursday meant that parents were pouncing on beleaguered mailmen last Friday, their wild eyes and desperate hands outstretched, praying for the LARGE envelopes.

Keening wails of anguish began to echo through the city around 11am, with a soulful crescendo peaking in the early evening, as the wave of working parents arrived home to discover, with hollow disbelief, the dreaded SMALL envelopes heavily weighted with rejection. Anger, humiliation, indignation, and frustration quickly filled the immense void previously occupied by anxiety and hope.

The lucky ones giddily opened the LARGE envelopes, savoring the welcome letters, validating years of excellent parenting and superior DNA. In a world obsessed with pedigree and name-brands, acceptance letters to the top schools are like straight A’s or Nobel Prizes, earning bragging rights for years to come.

Everyone knows that the pecking order of life is established early, so if your kid isn’t accepted to the top Kindergartens at age 5, obviously there’s no way in HELL they are going to Harvard or Stanford. They may as well give up now.

Considering the current economy and the overall living conditions of most of the world, it seems insane that anyone would even consider laying out that kind of cash for private school, particularly in the elementary years. What’s even crazier, however, is the fact that these schools are TURNING AWAY hundreds of families that are desperate to write the tuition check that could easily feed an entire village in Africa for a year… Or, could fund more teachers, smaller class sizes and better programs in the public school system. Hmmmmmm…..

Just your average gal with two kids, a giant dog, an interesting life, and an ungodly obsession with certain quirky things. Sunblock for one. Electronics for another. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg…

My goal is to share fortuitous oddities and pearls of humor as I discover them. The best hair products, the worst customer service, the most delightfully random photos. You name it, I’ll share it.

I’m not just a Girl-about-town, I’m a Girl-about-town with a penchant for spreading the WORD.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.